Colorado: Bereavement Leave Requirements
The short answer
Yes, through Colorado's existing paid-sick-leave bank rather than a separate bereavement allotment. The Healthy Families and Workplaces Act requires covered employers to let employees use accrued paid sick leave to grieve a family member's death, attend funeral services or a memorial, or handle resulting financial and legal matters. Employees accrue one hour per 30 hours worked and generally may earn and use up to 48 hours per year across all HFWA purposes.
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This is the general rule in Colorado. Ezel applies current Colorado law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and type of leave | C.R.S. § 8-13.3-404(1)(a)(IV), within the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, expressly authorizes death-related use of accrued paid sick leave; it does not create a separate bereavement bank |
|---|---|
| Covered employers and employees | All employers with employees in Colorado regardless of size or industry, including state and local public employers; federal government excluded. Covers full-time, part-time, and temporary employees, except covered railroad employees excluded by statute |
| Qualifying deaths, relationships, and events | Death of a family member; employee may grieve, attend funeral services or a memorial, or deal with resulting financial and legal matters. Family includes immediate family, in-loco-parentis relationships, and a person whose health or safety care the employee provides or arranges. No separate reproductive-loss category |
| Leave amount, timing, and caps | Drawn from the ordinary HFWA bank: at least 1 hour per 30 hours worked, generally up to 48 hours earned and used per year across all purposes, with up to 48 unused hours carried forward. No extra per-death amount or completion window; employer may require one-hour increments |
| Paid or unpaid; use of existing leave | Paid at the same hourly rate or salary and with the same benefits normally earned during work, subject to statutory rate rules. Existing compliant PTO or CBA leave may satisfy HFWA; this is not an additional bereavement allotment |
| Notice, documentation, and proof | Oral or written request; reasonable employer notice procedures may apply when foreseeable. Proof only for 4+ consecutive workdays and may be provided after leave; no special automatic death-certificate requirement or statutory list of death documents. No replacement-worker requirement |
| Job protection, attendance, and confidentiality | Employer may not count protected leave as an absence leading to adverse action, require replacement coverage, retaliate, or interfere. Employee returns without negative consequences; HFWA-related health or safety information must be kept confidential and unnecessary details may not be demanded |
| Enforcement, remedies, and deadlines | Employee may file a free DLSS complaint for denied or unpaid sick leave or certain retaliation, and may bring a civil action generally within 2 years, or 3 years for a willful violation. Available enforcement includes back wages, penalties, fines, policy changes, and other authorized legal or equitable relief |
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Colorado uses the existing paid-sick-leave bank
Colorado does not add a separate number of bereavement days after each death.
Instead, C.R.S. § 8-13.3-404(1)(a)(IV) requires an employer to let an employee
use accrued Healthy Families and Workplaces Act paid sick leave to grieve,
attend funeral services or a memorial, or handle financial and legal matters
arising after a family member's death.
The distinction matters. Death-related time competes with other HFWA uses for
the same annual balance. Under C.R.S. § 8-13.3-403(2)(a), an employee earns at
least one hour per 30 hours worked and generally may earn and use no more than
48 hours in a year unless the employer chooses a higher limit. Up to 48 unused
hours carry forward, but the employer still need not allow more than 48 hours
of use in a year.
Coverage, family, and pay
HFWA covers employers with any employees in Colorado regardless of size or
industry. C.R.S. § 8-13.3-402(4)-(6) includes state and local public employers
and excludes the federal government. CDLE describes the employee coverage as
including full-time, part-time, and temporary workers; the statute excludes
covered railroad employees.
A family member includes the employee's immediate family, a child to whom the
employee stands in loco parentis, a person who stood in loco parentis when the
employee was a minor, and a person whose health- or safety-related care the
employee provides or arranges. Immediate family includes relationships by
blood, adoption, marriage, or civil union.
The time is paid at the same hourly rate or salary and with the same benefits
normally earned during work, subject to the Act's specific rate rules. A
general PTO policy or collective bargaining agreement can satisfy HFWA only if
it supplies all equivalent rights without tougher notice or proof conditions.
Notice, proof, and protection
The employee may request leave orally or in writing. An employer may use
reasonable notice procedures for foreseeable leave. It may require reasonable
documentation only when leave covers four or more consecutive workdays, and
CDLE says the employee may provide that documentation after leave ends.
Colorado does not prescribe an automatic death certificate, obituary, or
funeral-home letter for every death-related absence.
An employer may require use in one-hour increments unless it permits smaller
increments. It may not require the employee to find a replacement worker,
count protected time as an attendance absence that can lead to adverse action,
or retaliate or interfere. CDLE's poster also directs employers not to demand
unnecessary details and to treat HFWA-related health or safety information as
confidential.
An employee may file a free complaint with the Division of Labor Standards and
Statistics. C.R.S. § 8-13.3-410 generally permits a district-court action
within two years, extended to three years for a willful violation. CDLE
identifies back wages, penalties, fines, and policy changes among available
enforcement outcomes.
What trips people up
Forty-eight hours is not a per-death benefit. It is the general annual HFWA
bank shared across health, safety, family-care, bereavement, closure, and
evacuation purposes.
The statute covers more than funeral attendance. Protected uses include
grieving and post-death financial or legal matters, as well as funeral services
or a memorial.
Reproductive loss is not separately named in the death clause. A
miscarriage, stillbirth, failed adoption, or fertility loss may present a
family-member-death or physical- or mental-health question depending on the
facts, but HFWA does not create a separately labeled reproductive-loss bank.
Common questions
Can a Colorado employee use paid sick leave simply to grieve?
Yes. Grieving a family member's death is expressly listed; attendance at a
funeral or memorial is not required.
Is there a deadline to finish death-related leave?
No special completion window applies. The practical limits are the employee's
available accrued balance, the annual use cap, and lawful notice and proof
rules.
Can an employer require a death certificate for one day of leave?
Not as an HFWA documentation condition. Reasonable documentation may be
required only for four or more consecutive workdays. A one-day absence is
below that threshold.
Statutes and sources
- C.R.S. §§ 8-13.3-402 to -404 and -410. Current definitions, accrual,
death-related use, documentation threshold, and limitation periods. CDLE
current statutory
compilation
and current labor-statutes
index
(accessed July 15, 2026). - Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Current coverage, pay,
documentation, protection, and remedy guidance. INFO
#6B
(updated February 27 and accessed July 15, 2026). - Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Official death-related use,
attendance, replacement-worker, and privacy summary. Workplace Public
Health Rights
Poster
(accessed July 15, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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